What physical properties must a kick drum microphone have...

DigitalSmigital

DigitalSmigital

A slice of analog pie?
to be a truly great kick drum mic?

I have a few bills to spend, maybe $300. Right now I have two AT4040s as overheads, a 57 on the snare, and a host of cheap dynamics for the toms. I get a good sound with the dynamic inside the kick, I think, but am searching for the holy grail of kickdom lore.

The room is treated as well as it can be, I think, it's time to turn my focus and pocketbook towords the mics.
 
d112 seems to be a universal favorite, my personal choice is the D6 from audix, and the shure beta 52 pretty much rounds out the holy trinity. there are several other choices fewer people have heard of but i'm sure some will mention. with any of the three mentioned mics and the right drum and head you can get a great kick sound.
 
An impossible question to answer. It all depends on what you want it to sound like. A lot of people will say large diaphragm dynamics, but that just is not always true. A LOT of R&B guys use a Beyer M88, which is not a large diaphragm dynamic, and is one of the great kick mics. Other guys like LD condensers. Then there are guys I know who like SD condensers. There are even some guys out there who like hyper-accurate ultra-SD mics, like an Earthworks omni.

And they ALL make the kick sound great, so there are no rules. Hell, there are even people using boundary effect mics, like that Shure one (the beta 98, or some such shit).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I have a D112 and a MD421 and I use them both on kick depending on what im going for. for more click and accuracy, the MD421 is the best. 421 thru the hole and pointed at the beater sounds like Panteras bass drum. The D112 gives much more thump, less high end- i imagine its shure counterpart is quite similar. it mostly a matter of taste. idealy, get both (421 and D112) if you have $450.

I usualy decide based on the guitar tone that will accompany it. for deep, bass-heavy distortion tones, I put the D112 on the amp and the 421 on the kick. For trebly crunch tones, i do the opposite. thats just me though.
 
What physical properties must a kick drum microphone have...
to be a truly great kick drum mic?
Click to expand...
Apparently it must feel big, heavy and bulky, even if that shouldn't be a prerequisite for a frequency response.
Wayne
 
Another Vote for the Sennheiser 602. Great bottom and mids. High end is even and clean.

Picks up a lot of Sub Freq's too. A bonus if you're looking for some real bottom end. If not,,,,,,,just have to roll them off.

Haven't heard the D6 yet,,,,,,,,,,but maybe I'll add one to the arsenal.

-dano
 
To be a truely great kick mic it needs to be mic'ing a truely great drum kit played by a truely great musician ..... sorry , I mean drummer.

That said .... I really dig an RE20 or lately a CAD E100.

-mike
 
Thanks for the feedback...

I am leaning towards the e602, $180 and good reviews. The Shure beta 52 comes with the mic package, or can I just buy the one?

On my budget I'm reluctant to go with the LDC option, I'll ruin a good mic moving all that air the way I play. That CAD e100 is a funky looking side-address supercardioid, I'd like to hear that one before I buy.
 
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